In the 1960's, Fox issued a double LP album set called The Complete Shirley Temple Songbook. On the album were three songs that fans of Shirley did not recognize from her film. The first, \"Dreamland Choo Choo to Lullaby Town\" was originally believed to be from the 1936 film Stowaway and more recently has been attributed to Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm from 1938 (recorded late in 1937). It was to be her \"radio sign off\" song in the broadcast scene from the farmhouse, but instead, Fox put together a medley of her former hits and she sang that instead, leaving this song cut completely. The next song \"Happy Endings\" was also trimmed from Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. In the film Phyllis Brooks sings the song, but Shirley's version did not make it into the final cut. The song is odd because it starts with only a piano accompaniment and is muffled in sound and then transitions into an orchestra. So was this part of the film, or was the first part a rehearsal take that was combined with the rest of the song? The last song \"I'll Always Be Lucky With You\" is a cute song from Just Around the Corner in 1938. The film was based on the novel \"Lucky Penny\" and this song would have fit well with the \"luck\" theme.
The entire double album set is a strange paradox. While it contains rare and previously unreleased material, it is not presented as such and is in fact, presented totally wrongly on the album cover. Not only are two of the cut songs listed under the wrong film, but even songs that were in the films are listed under the wrong films and even wrong song titles! The Toy Trumpet number from the 1938 film Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is listed as \"Parade of the Wooden Soldiers\" under \"The Little Colonel\" film from 1934! This is just one example of front cover mistakes! Shirley's \"Lullaby to a Doll\" is carelessly titled \"Our Little Girl\" under the film title \"Our Little Girl\". It surely must have confused young Shirley fans! To add to the confusion, the photos of Shirley on the front are all misidentified, from the wrong films.
So where did these three rare gems come from? Were they always just pre recorded audio, or did Fox actually film these numbers and they were left on the cutting room floor?
There are no photos or film in the video, just the turntable, like we used to listen to before Youtube!
